Just three weeks earlier, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was sailing high. He won the South Carolina primary and seemed headed for Florida with the wind at his back.

An abrupt about-face by the Florida Medical Association is helping to keep malpractice reform legislation alive, but at least one group of physicians is calling the move "irresponsible."

After years of staunchly opposing broader prescription authority for optometrists, the FMA has agreed to recognize their "full scope" privileges. As recently as last November, the FMA declared: "Expanding optometrists' scope of practice would be dangerous for patients."

Saying they were demanding little from state legislators other than reducing impediments to economic growth and to continue opposing programs coming from the White House, Americans for Prosperity-Florida and tea party members from across the state gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday for the first of two Patriot Days.

The Florida House on Wednesday approved a series of tax breaks, hoping to free thousands of businesses from corporate income taxes and put extra money in the pockets of back-to-school shoppers.

House members went along with Gov. Rick Scott's proposal to increase the corporate income tax exemption from $25,000 to $50,000, passing it as part of a broader economic-development bill.

Scott, in a statement, said it was "a huge victory" for Floridians, and would help businesses create more jobs.

Sinking in the polls at both the national level and in states that will soon hold primaries, Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich tried to rally conservatives on Wednesday by pushing his plan to reduce energy and gas costs for Americans.

Gingrich insisted to supporters that his plan could return gas prices to $2.50 a gallon and he ripped into President Barack Obamas record on the issue.

Just as Republican Sheriff Bob Crowder abandoned Rick Scott in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, GOP officials are distancing themselves from Crowder's primary run against U.S. Rep. Allen West.

"He's delusional," Martin County Executive Committee member Chuck Winn said of Crowder.

Winn said he expects GOP organizations in the 18th Congressional District to endorse West in the primary -- if Crowder even gets that far.

"I'd be surprised if he manages to make it beyond the May filing deadline. I don't see where he gets his support," said Winn.

Following his wins last week in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has propelled past Mitt Romney in the polls at the national and state level.

According to a national Rasmussen Reports poll of likely primary voters released on Wednesday, Santorum takes 39 percent, while Romney stands in second with 27 percent. Newt Gingrich stands in third with 15 percent while Ron Paul lags in fourth with 10 percent. Three percent back other candidates while 6 percent are undecided.

There's a way to compensate retired public employees for their service without tomorrow's taxpayers paying a high, unpredictable price.

Gov. Rick Scott's proposal to expand corporate tax exemptions touched off a partisan fight on the House floor Tuesday, with Republicans linking the extra tax breaks to nonunion businesses.

Democrats filed a series of politically tinged amendments aimed at placing conditions on the exemptions. For example, Democrats proposed offering the extra breaks to businesses that provide health insurance benefits to employees' spouses and domestic partners, provide contraceptive coverage in insurance policies and do not discriminate against hiring veterans.

NEW YORK -- James and Jeanne Harmon reside in and supposedly own a five-story brownstone on Manhattan's Upper West Side, a building that has been in their family since 1949.